The Epic of Alex Cross
by TheGrandPoba
Summary: Alex didn't have the best life, but it got a lot worse very quickly. Traveling up the east coast to a camp where he will supposedly be safe, but will he make it there. With only the clothes on his back and his best friend John, Alex with have to use every bit of cunning and strength to make it to Camp Half-Blood
1. Chapter 1

"I am in deep shit," I mused to myself as I readjusted over the trapdoor to the tree house trying to catch my breath.

I heard the snake women hiss at me again, "Come down little demigod, come down and play."

"Oh I don't like playing its too dangerous. Hey how about this I challenge you to see who can speed run Lego Star Wars the fastest" I say while glancing around for an escape route or some kind of weapon. As I suspected my only weapon was a small beanbag chair.

After a minute of silence (I must have stumped it with my weirdest response to stress ever) the snake women… man I need to think up a name for her… how about Murial, yeah that's good, anyways Murial responded, " A yes finally a worthy challenger to my skills in Logo Star Wars in running fast I am truly honored what is the name off my challenger.

"Uhh…hairy balls, yes, yes my name is hairy balls." I snort with laughter as I wonder if she will buy it.

"Hairy Balls what an honorable name come down so we can run fast." I start prying at the wall of the tree house trying desperately thinking of a way to buy myself some time. I finally work one board loose and start yanking another.

"One second I have to unbaricade the trap door," I call back. I finally rip the board from the wall and leap into the bushes below. I start tearing through them and sprint across my neighbor's backyard. I dash across the street and hurdle over another person's low fence. I figure I should take a breather and think about exactly what just happened. One, she was about as fast as me jogging. Two, she was about as bright as a newly paved road. Three, she thought she was smart. I don't know what the hell just happened. 5. That's all I know. I think of an unfortunate plan, I have to rob my best friend.

I jog over to his house taking the most out of the way roads and alleys I can hoping I don't get followed. I finally reach his house hop the fence into the pristine backyard with daises and daffodils sprouting up all over his garden like weeds. I crawl under his back deck and grab his old bike when I hear John's lopsided gait above me. I resign myself to getting caught and I poke my head outside the doorway and see John's face looking unusually pale. "Oh fuck," he says with his face in his hands, "What attacked you?" I start to banter to help hide my anxiety. "What makes you think I got attacked genius?" John sighed, "Listen this isn't my first time doing this just grab me a bike the follow me, and no questions until we are out of the city."

We made it a whopping two minutes without getting attacked. We were biking across a busy intersection when I saw Murial waiting on the other side of the road I knew something even stranger was happening. She was standing in a crowd with a trident, and people walked past her like she was nothing. I dismount from the bike in the median and glance around the intersection to confirm my suspicion. John and I somehow failed to notice the snake-women at every corner, even behind us. John pulled over behind me and starts blabbering. "Shit, shit shit, shit, shit, this is bad this is really bad, this is Ba-ad"

I stared at him in confusion. "Ok this has been a rough day so I am going to inore the fact you just bahed like a sheep…"

"Goat Alex, fucking goat"

I plough on, "That's irrelevant we are surrounded you said you did this before so pull yourself together man." He takes a couple deep breaths and somehow pulls a Kendo staff out of his bag. "How?"

He says to most elegant sentence I ever heard. "Fucking magic." He hands me a small dagger and says "Remember they have range but you can grab their tridents and throw them off balance, and stay behind me." The light changed and he did the most courageous thing I ever saw. He charged across the road at Murial number two.


	2. Chapter 2-I commendeer a wagon

**Chapter 2-I commandeer a wagon**

Seeing my best friend charging to his death I reacted in the only possible way. Hint I didn't run away I followed after that dumbass. Seeing him bring up his shinai as if it was practice reassured me slightly. He charged and I heard the sound of wood and metal as John slammed his shinai down into Murial's trident. He towered up to his full height and used his bodyweight to force her trident to the ground. Finally seeing the opportunity to be useful I dart around the interlocking staffs and thrust the small dagger into the side of her neck. She exploded into a fine yellow powder and was swept into the wind like pollen. I glance around for more of them and see them crossing the street. "Shit, John we gotta run. We hurtle down the street and I see my opportunity. If hell exists I might get on the list for the strangest thing yet. I can just imagine how this conversation goes.

"Man Satin you have really embraced your role to punish sinners.""Yeah at first the screams of pain bummed me out, but they do wonders for the ambiance, say how you end up here again. "Oh I stole a kid's wagon, realized the kid was in it, threw him on the grass, and attempted to ride it down a hill until I flipped and broke my neck.

It may not have exactly ended up like that, but it was going through my mind as I sped down the hill with John bumping into me. I'll admit it's not my best idea, but hey I was on a time crunch. We stumbled out of the wagon and dashed off to safety.

After hours of nonstop walking, John and I decided to camp in an abandoned warehouse. We went to a 7-11 and pooled all the money we had for snacks, and made a little hidden niche in the corner of the warehouse. I cracked open a Coke and I wanted answers. "John, what the hell happened out there?"

He took a sip and thought for a minute before responding. "So this is going to sound crazy even in comparison with what happened today. We'll, the Greek gods, they exist. They are mixture of Greek and American values since they currently reside here, the new home of western civilization. Often they have kids with mortals like the old days, demigods, like you. I'm not exactly sure who your Olympian parent is, but you're either the son of a more powerful minor god, or a less powerful major god."

I start trying to understand the information dump that just happened. "So how do you fit into all of this?"

"I am a nature spirit, a sayter…" "That's why you bahhed like a…" "Goat yes a goat, now don't interrupt. I work for Camp Half-Blood, the only place you will ever be safe. I used to be a protector, someone who guides demigod's to camp, but I retired three years ago. I saw you for what you were, and I agreed to watch out for you while Chiron got a protector to extract you that was two months ago. I talked to him a month ago the jist of the message was that they didn't have enough people to get you, they had more high risk operations to deal with, he did seem to be stressed."

"If they need more protectors why did you retire you're only what eighteen, nineteen?"

"Thirty-seven, sayters mature half as quickly as humans. Now get some sleep, Long Island is a long way away."

I noticed that he ignored my question, but I decided not to press the issue. I curl up into a little ball and rest my head on my arm. I stare out a crack in the wall at the stars above and feel my eyelids drooping, and my mind wandering into oblivion.

The recurring thumping sound is what woke me up. I looked out the window and saw the evidence of the coming sun. The thumping grew louder as I stood up and walked and stumbled towards the sound. I headed down the staircase and felt like I gained ten pounds every step down I took. I saw a beautiful a women stare at my, analyzing me, then she held two fingers up to her eyes and pointed into the distant black. I stared intently, but saw nothing. Suddenly my breath slowed and moving was like being submerged in jello. I saw something dip into my line of sight, a giant spider with a thread reaching above her. Time seemed to stretch and contract and I say two people pulled down by the spider web, a boy with dark black hair and a girl with blond hair trailing behind her. I glanced towards the mysterious women and she finally spoke to me. "Tell John what you saw. You have taken your first step into your epic my son.

I woke up and considered telling John what I saw. Was it a freak coincidence or was it something more. Considering what just happened yesterday I decide to wake him and tell him everything I saw, except what she said. He listened to everything he said and grew pale when I described the falling kids. He immediately stepped into the morning sun and threw a gold coin in the air and said a quick chant I couldn't hear and talked for a good five minutes and I only caught occasional words and phrases Gaia, Percy and Annabell, tarturus, and attack camp. John walked back inside and simply said, "There has been a change in the plan.

* * *

 **Authors Note**

Hey guys and girls my name is Ryan and I hoped you enjoyed my story. This chapter is about 950 words so I got pretty close to 1000, but I didn't want to drag the explanation out too much. Please review and tell me what I am doing right or wrong. ~~~Ryan


	3. Chapter 3-I almost strike out

**Chapter 3** -I almost strike out.

* * *

We lasted seven minutes outside the relative safety outside the warehouse before Murials one, three, and four found us. They must have slithered through the night to catch us. John brought out his shinia, but kendo is mainly focused on one versed one rather than groups so we were in a pickle. I desperately start thinking of a plan and decide to stall for a bit. "Man it must have been rough slithering through the night to catch us. How about you sit down and take a quick break? I promise we won't run." John flashes me a quick smile realizing what I was doing and sits down. The Murials follow his lead, and I try to venture another conversation. "Wow, you three must be dedicated slithering all night, what motivated you to do this?"

One of them sends me a death glare and responds with a voice laced with pure hate. "You dispatched my sister to tarturus, we waited for thirty-three years, and you dispatch us mere days after we return."

"What was your sister's name?"

"Is you fool is, she will return soon, with the doors of deaths open, she will rise faster and stronger than ever then before. She lunges towards me and John intercepts her and cracks his sword down on her head. She dissolves like the one I killed, and John looks at me and says

"I had this inlayed with celestial bronze, it's the only way to kill them," he explains. The other two launch themselves at us and I grab the trident thrust at me and plant it into the ground. I drop my center of mass and slam my shoulder into Murial's chest and send her sprawling backwards while John locks weapons with the other one and sucker punches her in the face as she screams in pain. I follow through with my attack and shove my dagger between the first and second ribs of one and dispatch the other on with a backhand slash. I stand up, gasp for breath, and sheath my dagger. John and I fist bump and walk onward.

"John what is celestial bronze, and why did you say it's the only way to kill them?"

"I am not exactly sure why celestial bronze works, but it is mined from Mount Olympus and is crafted into weapons."

"Why don't you use Guns with bronze bullets?"

"Because it's wasteful and the gods don't like us mining the bronze, it destroys the ambiance they say. It also has something to do with aerodynamics and weight of bullets I think, but I could be wrong."

Anyways where are we going? You never explained what you meant, when you went all dramatic on me."

"Sorry I was interrupted by dracaena, I swear that will never happen again"

"Apology not accepted, now spit out what you were going to say when you were so rudely inturupted"

"So this is kinda an incomplete summary because I didn't find out about half of this crap until today, but here it goes. So there is this guy, Percy, who you saw falling in your dream, and he is this super famous demigod and he defended Mount Olympus against the Titans about a year ago. He went missing months ago to stop a new threat the giants and went on a quest. He found out about this other camp of Roman demigods and long story short they declared war on us and are attacking Camp Half-Blood."

"So we can't go there so what do we do?"

"A few years ago a few of us on the run built a series of safe houses up and down the coast with food, medical supplies, and weapons. One of them is near us and it contains maps to the other ones. From there we need to constantly move preferable up the coast until this all blow over."

"So our plan is to derp up and down the east coast until this all blows over, preferably in our favor, and try not to die."

"Aww come on man, you are making it sound all depressing think of it as a all expenses paid destination hiking tour of the eastern United States."

"Sounds romantic," I mock, "Can we extend the tour until Valentine's day my dear."

"No, but you can use it as an opportunity to fail at hitting on girls. Maybe you can actually get a response with your dumbass pickup lines this time.

"Shut up you old basterd, you have half less than half of my game"

"Shall we put it to the test?"

"Bring it, what are the stakes."

"Person with the least amount of numbers at the end has to walk into Camp Half-Blood with no pants."

* * *

Since we made our bet we walk to the Charleston mall and try to get the digits. I walk over to a girl who looks around my age… wait have I turned 16 yet? I shrug that thought out of my mind put on my most charming smile and walk over to her. I open my mouth then my mind goes blank. I desperately try to think of something funny or witty to say and my mind goes completely blank. I say the first words that pop into my brain. "Hey do you mind if I hang out here with you I farted over there." So much for silver tongued devil. She looks at me like I barfed on her shoes and stalked off. "Well," I mutter to myself. "That went over like a fart at a funeral." I see a tall girl with mousy brown hair and a blue Hogwarts scarf from those Harry Potter books walk close to me and I take my chance. "Ten points to Gryffindor!" She looks at me like I am an idiot, what did I do wrong? I spy a twenty dollar bill lying on the ground and snatch it up before anyone else grabs it.

I decide to give the pickup line attempt another shot before I regroup with John. I walk up a girl sipping coffee and go for the comedic approach. "Hey does this rag smell like chloroform to you." She stares at me for a second before she starts shaking with laughter and drops her coffee all over her shoes. "Oh shit, my bad let me get you another one." I say hurriedly. We walk over to the starbucks and get in line before I ask for her name. "Nancy, what's yours."

"Alex."

"Do you live around here of are you on vacation like me."

"Oh me and my friend are taking a road trip of sorts around the coast, but we live in New York."

"New York? No way me too."

"Hey can I have your phone number, maybe we can meet up when we get back." She gives me her phone number and we talk until we get her drink. "Well I will call you later, hope you have a good summer break!"

I dash off to the entrance where John and I agreed to meet he eventually he swaggers in ten minutes later. "Three,"

"No way, I only got one."

"Don't feel bad my little padawan, now we are going to need to feel bad I have twice your experience at this."

I try to play the noble rout, "It's not about the number it's about the connection."

"Connections don't get you over the crest of the hill clothed Alex, but numbers do."

* * *

Hey guys and girls, In this chapter I really tried hard on John and Alex's friendship and I hope I captured it well in their light hearted bantering. I had a great time writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Have a great week!


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